PC sales are in decline, and in an alarming way for the first time

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You may have noticed that a majority of your non-gamer friends own tablets and smartphones, and you might occasionally remember a day when the desktop PC ruled the market. Especially if you live in a trendy city like New York, everyone seems to have a tablet perform the majority of their computing needs nowadays. A new report by market intelligence firm IDC says that the reason why you’ve been noticing more tablets and smartphones is because PC sales are in decline.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, IDC states that PC shipments totaled 89.8 million, down 6.4% from the same quarter last year. Using its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, IDC expected a decline in PC sales, though a smaller one at only 4.4%. Though it was only a 2% drop, in the scheme of things that adds up to a decent amount of money, and also shows that the trend is more severe than expected. More alarmingly, this decline was the first time the PC industry experienced a year-on-year decline during the holiday season. Thanks, Windows 8. We’re kidding, sort of!

Jay Chou, senior analyst over at IDC, says that as Windows 8 matures and ultrabook prices drop, the PC market could see a resurgence, so that 6.4% decline does not mean all is lost. IDC research director David Daoud added that in 2012, consumers expected new PCs with touch-centric capabilities, though what they got was regular PCs with an operating system (Windows 8) that was optimized for touch, but doesn’t quite have the proper software proving that optimization was a worthy endeavor. If you have visited the Windows app store, you probably agree with that sentiment.

The IDC also notes that though certain consumer-focused brands managed to do well in 2012, such as HP, Asus, Lenovo, and Samsung, other brands bided their time before making a major push into the current PC world and offering new, impressive products. The PC market wasn’t as dire for the rest of the world as it was in the US, as Japan actually experienced a slight growth, though it was below the projected increase. Even though Japan had a small uptick, the rest of the Asia/Pacific market ended up a little below forecasts.

HP remained the top worldwide PC vendor (despite almost leaving the PC market this year), and though its total volume this year was roughly the same as last year, it did manage a bit of growth in the Asia/Pacific market. Lenovo is still moving along with a growth of 8%, but that’s much smaller than its previous 30% growth from a few quarters ago. Both Acer and Dell lost ground, with Dell’s shipments decreasing about 20% year-over-year, while Asus more or less stood its ground with a 5.6% year-on-year growth.

So, if you’ve been astute and paying attention to what people are playing with on public transportation or at coffee shops, PC shipments slowing down a bit probably won’t come as much of a surprise. However, last quarter being the first time the industry experienced a year-on-year decline during the holiday season is an alarming trend for vendors, and perhaps a signal to begin shifting their focus on tablets and smartphones. It’s also entirely possible that Windows 8 will become more appealing over time, though that old bit of wisdom that says every other Microsoft OS release is the bad one seems to apply to Windows 8.

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